Comcast Caught Double Billing, Wants To Settle Class Action Lawsuit

Around 200,000 Detroit, Michigan area customers of Comcast were double billed for a monthly maintenance fee from as far back as March 2000 until the practice was stopped on April 30, 2007.

Comcast is proposing to send refunds to every customer that was overcharged during the past seven year period. The refunds could add up to $2 million for the company, and would settle a federal class-action lawsuit against Comcast.

Michigan digital cable subscribers in the 313 and 248 area telephone codes were charged 99 cents a month for Comcast Cable Guard, a system protection service. This separate monthly fee that was being charged was already being paid for by the customer in the Comcast digital cable package price.

The proposed settlement would mean a refund of about $80 at the most for customers of Comcast during the times in question.

Detroit Free Press was told by a spokesman for Comcast, “It is a tentative settlement. There is a final approval hearing on Sept. 18 in U.S. District Court.”

Comcast, based in Philadelphia, is the largest cable operator in the USA. They have over 24 million cable customers and just over 12 million high-speed internet customers. They refuse to admit to any wrongdoing despite the refunds they are proposing to send out.

If anyone in the Detroit area was paying for Cable Guard during the March 2000 through April 2007 billing cycles they can contact the attorney for the class-action suit Macuga of Macuga & Liddle in Detroit at 313-392-0015 or Comcast Cable at 888-Comcast (266-2278).